share:

OVERVIEW

powered by AFI

Brief Synopsis

Jewish mother Molly Goldberg looks after her neighbors in her Bronx, New York, tenement as if they were family, and still has plenty of love and energy for her stern and reserved husband Jake, her uncle David, a tailor, her college-age son Sammy, and her daughter Rosalie. When Molly's former flame, Alexander Abel, comes to town, Jake insists on inviting him as a dinner guest, and tries to impress the department store owner by hiring a maid and boasting that he is sending his son to college and Rosalie to summer camp. The Goldbergs are surprised when Alexander introduces his twenty-three-year old fiancée Debby, but nevertheless welcome her warmly and invite her to stay with them while she shops for her trousseau. In order to further impress Alexander, Jake hires additional seamstresses to work at his factory for a day, even though his partner, Mendell, insists that they cannot afford it. When Alexander announces that he is opening a series of chain stores and wants to purchase clothing from Jake and Mendell, both men nervously take out loans and sell their life insurance policies to lease a larger factory. Debby, meanwhile, has unintentionally fallen in love with Ted Gordon, who teaches Molly's music appreciation class. As Molly believes that Debby is not right for Alexander, she encourages a friendship between Alexander and her attractive, widowed neighbor, Mrs. Morris, whose son has grown fond of him. Although Debby finally rejects Ted because of her commitment to Alexander, Ted shows up unexpectedly at a dinner where Molly's neighbor, Mrs. Van Nest, unwittingly gossips about Molly's plans and Debby's near infidelity. As a result, Alexander angrily breaks off his engagement, and ends his friendship with Molly. Jake then blames Molly for losing the chain store accounts and ruining his business, after Alexander decides to sell his business. Molly goes to see Alexander and, speaking from her heart, tells him that a marriage to Debby would be inappropriate, not because of her age, but because she is immature, as Alexander himself is immature. Alexander soon sees the wisdom of Molly's words and attends a Parent-Teacher Association dance in order to propose to Mrs. Morris. When Mrs. Morris accepts, Molly seeks to ward off Debby's guilty conscience by steering her into Ted's class, where she and Ted reunite. Meanwhile, Sammy, who at first refused to attend college, decides to go after all, and Alexander arranges for Jake to meet the new chain store owner. With the situation resolved, Molly convinces her worried husband that he has achieved the success he dreamed of by becoming a manufacturer, and reassures him that "we don't want to conquer the world, we only want to live in it."